Sharks: Remenda not bitter over dismissal

SAN JOSE -- Drew Remenda knows it might make him sound naive and maybe even a little cowardly.

But when Sharks chief operating officer John Tortora sat across from him and disclosed that the TV analyst's contract was not being renewed, Remenda said he never asked the basic question that others have focused on: Why?

"I thought, 'What's the use of trying to find out what happened besides what they told me, that they wanted to take the broadcast in a different direction,' " Remenda said. "It doesn't move my life forward to find out."

Remenda was talking from his home in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He knows his dismissal has angered a lot of Sharks fans and triggered an outpouring of support for him from across North America. He appreciates all that -- especially the calls he said he got from Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dan Boyle, Logan Couture and Brent Burns, players saying they were sorry to see him in this situation.

Still, he's determined not to fuel the fires with any trace of bitterness, in part because he wants this to be a learning experience for his 17-year-old twin sons, Davis and Donovan, and their older sister, Jordan.

Advertisement

"I wanted to show my kids that things are going to happen in life that may not seem fair, may not be what you think should happen to you," Remenda said. "It's how do you respond to it? You can be bitter, you can be upset, you can stomp around and have a temper tantrum. Or you can handle it in a way that's positive that allows you to keep your dignity."

Tortora has issued a public statement thanking Remenda for his time with the Sharks and wishing him well in the future. But the team's top business executive has said he won't comment publicly beyond that.

Remenda's outspoken style during broadcasts -- he sometimes took a tough-love approach to the team that signed his paycheck -- had led to clashes with Sharks management over the years. And the broadcaster realizes that there must have been something he said that upset owner Hasso Plattner or general manager Doug Wilson or Tortora.

Still, Remenda said he decided against finding out what that was.

"It wouldn't do me any good. My thing from the get-go was, 'OK, this is the way it is, and I'm going to move on.' My responsibility now isn't to the San Jose Sharks or even to myself," he said. "It's finding a job so I can continue to provide for my family."

To that end, he added, Tortora and Wilson have gone out of their way to be helpful, suggesting people to contact and offering whatever assistance they can provide.

Remenda, 51, had been with the Sharks, off and on, for more than 20 years.

He started as an assistant coach from 1991 to 1996 before being fired after a year with the development team in Kansas City. One year after that, he was back with the franchise as a radio analyst before moving to the TV booth. With the exception of one season when he joined the crew on Hockey Night In Canada, he had been alongside play-by-play announcer Randy Hahn since 2000.

Remenda does make a connection between his departure and the team's playoff embarrassment -- "Do you think that if the Sharks won the Stanley Cup we'd be having this conversation?" -- but concedes "that's their right 100 percent to do."

Even if that means a change in the broadcasting booth where he and Hahn are considered among the best in the league and had just won their fifth regional Emmy. Maybe the team believed another voice was needed for what comes next, even though Remenda said he got his first inkling he would not be back the night of San Jose's Game 7 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.

"I'm trying to be as philosophical about this as possible," Remenda said. "Maybe marketing-wise, they looked at me and thought, 'We need to go with a different guy who's going to bring a different message in a different way.' "

Remenda acknowledges being both disappointed and sad over the fact he won't be coming back. And he admits he hasn't quite come to terms with his new status, citing an exchange at his gym in Saskatoon when he was recognized by a stranger who asked if he was the guy who worked for the Sharks.

"I couldn't tell the guy, 'No I don't work for them anymore,' " Remenda said. "One of these days, I'm going to have to."